General Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha was a German military commander during the European new colonial era. As a brigade commander of the East Asian Expedition Corps, he was involved in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in Qing China, commanding troops which made up the German contribution to the Eight-Nation Alliance. He later served as governor of German South West Africa and Commander in Chief of its colonial forces, in which role he suppressed a native rebellion during the Herero Wars. He was widely condemned for his brutality in the Herero Wars, particularly for his role in the genocide that led to the near-extermination of the Namaqua Khoikhoi and the Herero.

The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa. They took place between 1904 and 1908.